God's Kingdom Is Born!

God's  Kingdom Is Born!

THE sacred secret of God has been unlocked.  (Revelation 10:7) Jehovah's Kingdom by his Messiah is now a dynamic reality.  It rules!   Its presence spells doom for Satan and his seed and glorious victory for the Seed of God's heavenly organization.  The seventh angel has not finished blowing his trumpet, however, for he has much more to reveal to us about the third woe.  (Revelation 11:14)  The signs described in Revelation chapters 12 to 14 will help us to broaden our appreciation of all that is involved in that woe and in bringing God's sacred secret to a finish.

John now sees a great sign - one of outstanding interest for God's people.  It introduces a thrilling prophetic vision, the meaning of which was first published in the March 1, 1925, issue of the Watchtower in an article entitled "Birth of the Nation" and then again in 1926 in the book Deliverance.  This brilliant flash of Bible understanding became a historic marker in the advancement of Jehovah's work.  So let John describe the drama as it starts  to unfold:  "And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon was beneath her feet, and her head was a crown of twelve stars, and she was pregnant.  And she cries out in her pains and in her agony to give birth." -Revelation 12:1, 2.

For the first time, Jehovah beholds a woman in heaven.  She is, of course, not a literal woman. Rather, she is a sign, or a symbol .  (Revelation 1:1) What does she symbolize?  In the inspired prophecies, women at times represent organizations "married" to outstanding personalities.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel was spoken of as a wife of Jehovah God.  (Jeremiah 3:14)  In the Greek Scriptures, the congregation of anointed Christians is spoken of as Christ's bride.  (Revelation 21:9-14) The woman John here sees is also married to someone, and she is about to give birth.  Who is her husband? Well, later her child is  "caught away to God and to his throne."  (Revelation 12:5)  Jehovah thus claims the child as his own.  Therefore, the woman that John sees must be symbolic wife.

About eight centuries earlier, Jehovah had addressed this symbolic wife, saying: "All your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah."  (Isaiah 54:5, 13) Jesus quoted this prophecy and showed that these sons were his faithful followers, who later  formed the congregation of anointed Christians.  (John 6:44, 45)  So members of this congregation, spoken of as God's sons, are also Children of God's symbolic wife.  (Romans 8:14)  The apostle Paul adds the final piece of information when he says: "The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother."  (Galatians 4:26) The "woman" seen by John, then, is "the Jerusalem above."



Exactly what, though, is Jerusalem above?  Since Paul spoke of her as "above," and John sees her in heaven, she is clearly not an earthly city; neither is she the same as "New Jerusalem," since that organization is the bride of Christ, not Jehovah's wife.  (Revelation 21:2) Notice that she is crowned with 12 stars.  The number 12 is associated with completeness in an organizational setting.   Hence, these 12 stars seem to indicate that she is an organizational arrangement in heaven,  just as ancient Jerusalem's universal organization of spirit creatures that acts as his wife, both in serving him and in producing offspring. 
John sees this woman as being robed with the sun and having the moon beneath her feet.  When we add her crown of stars, she is completely surrounded by heavenly lights.  God's favor shines upon her day and night.  What a fitting symbol of Jehovah's magnificent heavenly organization!  She is also pregnant, enduring labor pains.  Her cries for divine help show that her time has come to give birth.  In the Bible, labor pains often symbolize the hard work needed to produce an important result.  (Compare Psalm 90:2; Proverbs 25:23; Isaiah 66:7, 8) No doubt labor pains of this kind were experienced as Jehovah's heavenly organization prepared for this historic birth.

Next time: God's Kingdom Is Born! - A Great-Fiery Dragon

From the Book of Revelation